icurn. 

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ft/Ob 


Duke   University   Libraries 

Ode  on  the  meet 
Conf  Pam  q#106 


%  on  J/w 


/hem  *m 


Wonakm 


4 


BY  H.  TIMROD. 


Hntli  not  Ihe  morning  dawned  with  added  light? 

And  will  not  evening  call  another  star 

Out  of  the  infinite  regions  of  the  night, 

To  work  this  day  in  Heaven!     At  last,  we  arc 

A  nation  among  nations  :  and  the  world 

Shall  Boon  behold  in  many  a  distant  part 

Another  Bag  unfurled  ! 
Now,  come  what  may,  whose  favor  need  we  court  i 
And  under  God  whose  thunder  need  we  fear? 

Thank  Mini  who  placed  us  here 
Beneath  so  kind  a  sky — the  very  sun 

Takes  part  with  us:  and  on  our  errands  run 
All  breezes  of  the  Ocean  ;  dew  and  rain 
Do  noiseless  battle  for  us :  and  the  3  ear, 

And  all  the  gentle  daughters  in  her  train, 
March  in  our  ranks,  and  in  our  B6rvice  wield 

Long  Bpears  of  golden  grain  ! 

A  yellow  blossom  as  her  fairy  shield. 
June  Hings  our  azure  banner  to  the  wind, 

Whih-  in  the  order  of  their  birth 
Her  M-tirs  pass,  and  many  an  amide  field 
Grows  white  beneath  their  steps,  till  now  behold 

Its  endless  sheafs  unfold 
The  snow  of  Southern  summers  !      Let  the  earth 
Rejoice! — heneath  tin  soli  and  warm 

Our  happy  land  shall  sleep 

In  a  repose  as  deep 
As  if  we  lay  entrenched  behind 
Whole  leagues  of  Russian  ice  and  Arctic  storm, 

And  what  if  mad  with  wrongs  themselves  have  wrought 
In  their  own  treachery  caught, 

By  their  own  fears  made  bold, 

And  leagued  with  him  of  old. 
Who  long  Bince,  in  the  limits  of  the  North, 
Set  up  his  evil  throne,  and  warred  with  God — 
What  if  both  mad  and  blinded  in  their  rage, 
Our  foes  should  ding  us  down  their  mortal  gaze, 

And  with  s  hostile  step  profane  our  sod  ! 

We  shall  not  shrink,  my  brothers,  but  go  forth 

them,  marshalled  by  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 

And  overshadowed  by  the  mighty  ghosts 
Of  Moultrie  and  of  Eutaw — who   shall  foil 
Auxiliaries  such  as  these  '.'      Nor  these  alone. 

But  every  stock  and 
Shall  help  as  |    hut  tie    irr\  soil. 
And  all  tie'  generous  wT  ■  th  it  gives  to  toil, 
And  all  for  which  we  lo\e  our  noble  land, 
Shall  light  beside,  and  through  OS,  lee  and  strand, 

The  heart  of  v.  .man.  and  her  hand, 
Tree,  fruit,  and  flower,  and  every  influence, 

1  li  ntle.  or  grave,  or  grand. 


The  winds  in  our  defence 

Shall  seem  to  blow  :  to  as  the  hills  shall  lend 

Their  firmness  and  their  calm  : 
And  in  our  stiffened  sinews  we  shall  blend 

The  strength  of  pine  and  palm. 

Look  where  we  will,  we  cannot  find  a  ground 

For  any  mournful  song; 
Call  up  the  clashing  elements  around, 

And  test  the  right,  and  wrong! 

On  one  side,  pledges  broken,  creeds  that  lie. 

Religion  sunk  in  vain  philosophy, 

Empty  professions.  Pharisaic  leaven, 

Souls  that  would  sell  their  birth-right  in  the  sk\. 

Philanthropists  who  pass  the  beggar  by, 

And  laws  which  controvert  the  laws  of  Heaven! 

And  on  the  other — first  a  righteous  cause  ! 

Then  Honor  w  ithout  tlaws. 
Truth.  Bible  reverence,  charitable  wealth, 

And  for  tin-  poor  and  bumble,  laws  which  give. 
Not  the  mean  right  to  buy  the  right  to  li\e. 

But  life,  and  home,  and  health. 
To  doubt  the  issue  were  distrust  in  God  I 

If  in  His  Providence  lie  hath  decreed 

That  to  the  peace  for  which  we  pray, 

Through  the  Red  Sea  of  War  must  lie  our  Way, 

Doubt  not,  oh  brothers,  <xe  shall  find  at  need 

A  Moses  w  ith  his  rod  ! 

But  let  our  fears — if  fears  we  hav< — he  still. 
And  turn  us  to  the  future!  Could  we  climb 
Some  mighty  Alp,  and  view  the  coming  time. 

The  rapturous  sight  would  fill 

Our  eyes  with  happy  tears  ! 
Not  only  for  the  glories  which  the  years 
Shall  bring  us  :   not  for  lands  from  Bea  to  Bea, 
And  wealth,  and  power,  and  peace,  though   these  shall  he, 
But  for  the  distant  people  we  shall  hie--, 
And  the  hushed  murmurs  of  a  world's  distress  : 

For  to  give  labor  to  the   poor. 

The  whole  sad  planet  o'er, 
And  save  from  want  and  crime  its  humblest  human  door, 
Is  one  among  the  many  which 

God  makes  us  great  and  rich  ! 
The  hour  perchance  is  not  yet  wholly  ripe 
\\  hen  all  shall  own  it.  hut  behold  the  type 
Of  what  we  are  and  shall  he  to   tiie  rest 
(If  the  broad  earth,  in  our  own  gulf  expressed. 
Which  through  the  eohl  untomperod  ocean  pours 
Its  genial  stream,  that  tar  off  Arctic  shores 
May  sometime  catch  upon  the  softened  hreeze. 
Strange  tropic  Warmth  and  hints  of  summer  seas! 


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